Marriage Wisdom Imparted by Eunice. (Eunice? There's a person named Eunice?)

It was our anniversary on Sunday!  We celebrated on Saturday night, going to a movie and then dinner.   We saw Jack Reacher, which was fantastic.

The previews make it seem...I don't know.  Like, he says a lot of tough-sounding one-liners in the preview, and when I saw it, I was like, meh.  But the movie was so much better than I thought it would be.  It truly reminded me of a John Grisham book or movie.  It had a good plot.  And lots of good butt-kicking, which always makes me happy.

I'm different than most girls in my movie preferences.  There's a part where Jack Reacher hits this guy from behind, in the head, with a big rock, and Ben said that I actually yelled out loud, "Yessss!!"  I seriously don't remember this happening, but dude, if it did, I was justified in my happiness.  That guy was trying to kill him, and the guy had killed an innocent woman!  Good for Jack Reacher for hitting the bad dude in the head with a rock!

I'm almost to the point of forgiving Tom Cruise.  Almost there.  (I've held a years-old grudge against him for having said that postpardem depression wasn't real and that depression can be helped solely by taking vitamins and exercising more.  You try having a baby, Tom, and then we can talk.  Or you try coping with clinical depression.  And see how much exercising and vitamins help you.)

Anywho, and then we went to dinner at Johnny Carino's.  I had some kind of mushroomey/creamy/chickeney/spaghetti-ey thing, which was wonderful.  Ben got some lobster ravioli, which actually ended up having no lobster whatsoever inside it.  Ben said there were juices in there that might have a lobsterey taste, but no lobster itself.  They gave us half off his meal, which helped a little, I guess.  I still felt badly for him.

Ben gave me this book, which I'm really excited to read:

And he bought me some Black Dutch fudge.  My favorite.  Ben and I were talking to a few dudes in our ward on Sunday (our actual anniversary) and we told them it was our twelfth anniversary.  They said, "So what's your secret to marriage?"

My answer:  "Black Dutch fudge.  Lots of it."

Haha!  Just kidding.  I'd say the answer is lots of work, lots of forgiveness, lots of prayer, lots of hugs, lots of talking.

I bought Ben an imposter Underarmor shirt (real ones are like $45), which ended up being skintight and see-through, so he'll have to take that back.  And I also got him a Duck Dynasty shirt (he loooves Duck Dynasty):

As the years go by, I see the initial sizzle in Ben's and my relationship as not as strong, but our friendship as being stronger than ever.  It's still love, but it's a friendship-based love, which is deeper love.  From everything I've read, this is normal and good.  Ben and I often tell each other that we are each others' best friends.  We know each other almost more than we know ourselves. 

This concept of sizzle fading and being replaced by a deeper, friendship-based love reminds me of a scene in my very, very, very favorite movie of all time, What's Up Doc? (1972.  Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neal.)

This movie still makes me laugh so hard that I cry, every time I watch it.  And I've watched it probably a hundred times.  I had my friend Megs over while I was recovering from surgery last month sometime, and we watched it, which was probably a bad idea.  My stitches hurt so badly the next day from all of the laughing. :)

Howard is played by Ryan O'Neal, and he is yummy:

Eunice, Howard's fiancee, is played by Madeline Kahn.  She's really psycho in this role and soooo funny:

Anyways, in this one scene, Howard and Eunice are getting ready for this banquet, and this is the conversation they have:

Eunice:  I'm not looking for romance, Howard.
Howard:  Oh?
Eunice:  No; I'm looking for something more important than that, something stronger.  As the years go by, romance fades and something else takes its place.  Do you know what that is?
Howard:  Senility?
Eunice:  Trust!
Howard:  That's what I meant.

So Eunice put it perfectly.  Romance fades just a little through time, and trust takes its place.

And one more picture to go with my favorite scene and quote from the movie, just for kicks and giggles:

Judy:  We're just testing a theory Howard has about Vocal Reverberation Under Spinal Pressure.
Professor Hosquith:  What?  Vocal Reverberation Under Spinal Pressure?
Judy:  You know, V.R.U.S.P.?

Seriously, come on over and watch this movie with us.  You won't regret it.

And Happy Anniversary, my love.